The High Cost Of Free Parking -- For Nightclubs

"Under the ordinance, nightclubs -- but not bars or restaurants -- will be required to have one parking space for every 75 square feet of floor space set aside for the exclusive use of the club's patrons. The big change from previous years is that street parking and shared parking lots aren't counted, meaning that if a nightclub doesn't already have its own parking lot, it must rent spaces from a nearby private lot...Under sometimes perplexing city guidelines, many of Atlanta's best-known nightlife destinations are not, technically speaking, nightclubs -- and are thus exempt from the new parking rule."

One nightclub owner "contends that, if the law actually makes it easier to find parking outside nightclubs, it could encourage customers to drink and drive...'The reason to have nightclub districts in the first place is to encourage people to walk between bars and take mass transit and shuttle buses.'"